Hollywood-based production studio Ingenuity Engine recently relied on Cospective’s video review tool, Frankie, to help finish a three-part television commercial campaign for Virgin Holidays. Frankie allowed the team at Ingenuity Engine to review and discuss work-in-progress with the director, producers and the ad agency, even though they were in four separate locations. Synchronized, interactive video review enabled an efficient creative decision-making process.nnHired by M&C Saatchi in London to work with noted director Joseph Kahn, Ingenuity Engine was tasked with creating a series of three ads for Virgin Holidays. The campaign is aimed at British couples and families and features the humorous tagline Unleash your Mojo. One spot follows a very ordinary couple who land in Florida and are magically transformed into just the sort of adventurous, fun-loving people they weren’t being at home. The couple is shown on a romantic cruise ship and at a swanky resort. Another spot shows a family of four, “the Harlows,” looking drab in muted colors and searching for a parking spot. Again, the moment they arrive in Florida, the palette shifts to bright colors, the music picks up and the “Harlow Globetrotters” are suddenly all smiles.nn
nn”They’re fun commercials to watch,” said David Lebensfeld, VFX supervisor and creative director at Ingenuity Engine (IE). “As you might imagine, our creative team had a great time making them happen.”nnIt was director Kahn who suggested that the agency hire IE for on-set creative and postproduction work. Ingenuity Engine had worked with Kahn many times before, on videos for Britney Spears and Lady Gaga as well as TVCs for Old Navy, Jell-O, Fox Sports and many others.nn”We have a long history of working with Joseph,” said Lebensfeld, who travelled from the IE office in Hollywood to South Africa for the one-week shoot. “There’s an unspoken trust and knowledge about what we collectively want to accomplish on set. What we bring to the table is good execution.”nnOn Set in South AfricanLebensfeld worked closely with Kahn in preproduction meetings and on set in South Africa before heading to London to shoot FX plates and start editorial. nn”My job was to help Joseph create the commercial he wanted to,” Lebensfeld said. Case in point: a challenging and innovative transition from the couple luxuriating in a hot tub to a new scene where the husband is swinging a sword and turning a tuna into sushi. “I know what Joseph wants the shots to look like. Understanding his ideas allowed us to find a way to execute that transition that we knew would work for him.”nnIn another sequence, the storyboard for the Unleash your Mojo spot shows a man’s face morphing into a lion’s face as seen through a glass of wine. “We could tell it wouldn’t work as drawn,” explained Lebensfeld. “Our conversation instantly became an idea session back and forth. We figured out together how to make it work, and had fun doing it.”nnFor the family spot, as the mother steps out of her car and her dingy London black-and-white life, her heavy clothes become a brilliant white one-piece swimsuit as she strides confidently into bright sunshine. Initially, there was a problem with the way her clothes fell away. This was solved by reimagining the transition, a quick solution that ended up being more elegant than originally planned. In short: carefully tweaking the ideas on the storyboard led to a strong and artistically compelling execution on the screen.nnPost in LA – Frankie reviews every daynIngenuity Engine completed all of the postproduction work at its studio in Hollywood. The commercials required complicated transitions between shots with overlapping VFX, clean up and set extensions. It was there, also, that th
Scott Fotheringham philpott | communications (613) 686-7557 Contact Scott via email
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) On Sounds of The BIG GAME
The NFL championship game is officially in the books, and with it, another year’s worth of unbelievable advertisements from some of the world’s biggest brands. While we love sports here at Stephen Arnold Music, as a sonic branding agency, we naturally pay close attention to the sounds of every spot, knowing that no matter how funny or weird or dramatic your commercial, one of the most eloquent and memorable expressions of a brand is through sound. Of course we had to rank our favorites. With over 60 commercials to choose from and actual costs skyrocketing to $40M for a :30 spot, we definitely had our work cut out for us this year. Here are SAM’s top picks for the best sounding spots of the big game. Doritos - Invasion Talk about tension and release! This spot combines drama-infused sound effects, impeccable timing and minimal dialogue – with no music soundtrack whatsoever. You can almost taste the crunch of the Doritos and understand why he doesn’t want to lose them! The drama builds as he struggles to hold onto the bag, and then the sound snaps like a rubber band. Plus, the quick shot of the tin foil hat in the upper right corner was an unexpected “Easter Egg.” Sometimes shorter commercials are the most effective! Doritos Invasion Coors Light – Slow Monday We’ve all had a case of the Monday blahs, right? Well, Coors Light nailed this concept with stunning imagery of slow-paced sloths dealing with everyday situations at their natural pace. But what about the sound? In this case, a perfectly selected music track completes and amplifies the visuals and seamlessly stitches the scenes together. The fact that it is a familiar and memorable... Read More